The Effect of a Client's Age Upon the Employment Preferences of Therapeutic Recreation Majors

Research has shown that negative attitudes toward the old are often prevalent among health care personnel who either work closely with older patients or who are preparing for health careers. The primary intent of this investigation was to explore the attitudes of therapeutic recreation (TR) majors toward older adults in relation to expressed job preferences. Ninety-five TR majors completed the “Therapeutic Recreation Work Preference Survey.” This instrument is a 105 item forced-choice survey which cross-matches five different disability categories (i.e., sensory impairment, chemical dependency, psychiatric impairment, physical impairment, and chronic health condition) with three age categories (i.e., youth: birth to 20 years; adult: 21–54 years; and senior: 55 +). The Bradley-Terry-Luce model was employed to reduce the 105 preference probability parameters to 15 strength parameters. Statistical analysis indicated that for the sample population expressed work preference decreased as the hypothetical client's age increased. In other words, no matter what the nature of the disability of the hypothetical client, the subjects expressed a preference to work with younger clients rather than older ones. Possible explanations for this finding are provided and strategies designed to alleviate the problem are discussed.